EXTREME MAKEOVER HOME EDITION - Three Kleenex episode

Over the course of the season I have slowly been building an immunity to the tear inducing effects of Extreme Makeover Home Edition.  At the beginning of the season I would get all misty-eyed EVERY SHOW as Ty and Company helped another deserving and inspirational family with a gut-wrenching backstory.   Over time I grew less sensitive and stopped weeping so much.

Until this week's show.

This was a three Kleenex show for me.  The Extreme Makeover bus travelled to Massachussets, where they helped the Guintas, a family that had been ripped apart by a horrible accident.  Two years ago, Paul and Renee Guinta had a baby girl, Renee.  On the day she was born, Paul was driving home with his two sons when he got into a severe single-car accident.  The boys were fine, but Paul was seriously injured.  The doctors didn't think he'd survive the night. He did, but Paul had serious brain injuries.  He spent sixteen months in the hospital and rehab, but couldn't come back to the Guinta family home because it wasn't wheelchair accessible by any stretch of the imagination.  As Paul struggled to rehabilitate himself, he remained separated from his family.

That's when Ty, his cadre of designers, and seemingly the entire population of the Guinta's hometown come to their assitance.  They demolish the old house with its tight halls and narrow doorways and in its place build a beautiful new house with a spacious open floor plan and all kinds of bells and whistles.  Paul could finally come home and live with his family once again.

The house was designed for the entire family, though.  The kids each got their own theme rooms, like the icy penguin room or the dinosaur suite with a T-Rex canopy bed.  Renee, who cuts hair, got her own salon tricked out with the latest high tech hair gizmos. 

This was an amazing family and it would be pretty tough to watch this episode and not be touched by Paul and Renee's love for each other and their indominatable spirit.  Paul is an incredible guy, and I was really impressed by his wife Renee, who is unfailingly supportive and loving.  That woman has a big heart.

So, yeah.  I cried a little, I'll admit it.  Did you see it?  I'll bet you cried a little too, am I right?

--Dave Campbell

Comments

[Mark W. Hale]

Dave, did you ever see that episode with the parents who were deaf and they had two kids, one blind/autistic and the other a regular kid? It's pretty much the saddest episode of anything ever, even sadder than that one episode of Futurama about the dead dog. You should have your taskmasters at ABC send you a copy and you can do a special XHM FLASHBACK post.

They put GPS in the blind kid's underpants.

[Paul DiGrande]

Your show Extreme Makeover:home has been a fabulous hit and it really is wonderful,what America is willing to do for a family that's had a rough go. I think it's time to change your format, however. Recently I've done some reading and more listening about veterans of wars, some without legs/arms etc. I myself am not a veteran, nor in need, but how about constructing some duplexes, nothing need be as elaborate as your homes on TV,,just somewhere for them to call home. Do some investigative research and check out the incredible facts and it would be wonderful to see 100 workers chipping in to build some modest homes for those that fought for our freedom....Thank you for your time